Today is my 67th birthday and I thought I'd share some photos my granddaughter Elissa took. You know, one of the truths about gardening is that the best way to get an overall watering done is to turn a couple of grandkids loose with a sprinker for each of them turned on full blast. By the time they finish soaking each other, everything is watered.

It's raining lions and wolves today, and more coming. This is the gate my granddaughter Janna made for me in one of her art classes in college. I really like being the beneficiary of all her creations.

This is one of my daylilies. See the small insects on the top. Don't know what they are. Today it's 88.9 degrees outside with a high of 98 expected and it's very overcast and humid. It's hard to make yourself get out and work when your eyes are so full of sweat you can't see. But if you don't at least make the rounds of the beds every day you miss seeing some things bloom or ripen.

This rose is Oklahoma, a gift from Cindy on Mother's day.

It's 82 degrees in the shade with sunny skies. We've got a prediction of 96 degrees. Boy, I hope that's wrong. Obviously the nearly 4 inches of rain has made a drastic difference. Lots of things need pruning. It seems contraindicated to work so hard to grow things, only to have to prune them back again. But, growth is life and that's what it takes.

Well, we got almost 4 inches of rain over the last 36 hours. That should hold things for a little while. Sometimes odd things happen to plants and then they make interesting pictures. Here's a horsetale reed that Elissa bent back. This was it's response to the bending. Today I need to get out and prune and deadhead. Hope it gets done.